Cat and Mouse
by bee2091
Summary: No matter how flirty, clever, or witty the cat is, it is still enemy to the mouse.
1. The Game

**ABANDONED WAREHOUSE  
December 12, 22:03 EST  
**

Another swift kick in the face threw me backwards and my arm was clinging onto the ramp that was barely keeping me up. I desperately attempt to catch my breath, but the excruciating pain in my abdomen prevents me from doing so and then there were punches thrown at me in the body. One jab to the stomach, an upper cut to my chin, then a few more body blows before the enemy picks me up and throws me to the floor below where my face met the ground once more. I was running out of strength, I was running out of time. My vision was barely there and my ears were ringing on and on like a bell. Blood spurts from my mouth like a fountain as I grasp onto my stomach in pain. There he approaches me slowly while holding a pole, taunting me to my demise. My legs were shaking making it was difficult to just get on one knee to show him I wasn't done. I can't give up, not now and not for the team. That was the last thing they needed and my job was to distract this guy from stopping them from completing the mission. He takes a swing at me with the pole, but I was able to dodge it and try to lay a hit to his face, but I fail. He laughs at me, simply punching my jaw sideways and kicking me back with his foot. I fall back on a desk and roll my way on the floor before crashing into a pile of debris. I look around me and with the minimal vision I had, I could see my blood trail around me. Sportsmaster was throwing me around the room like this was a game for him. Very hard to say the least, I was giving him my all. He somehow was able to break my bow in half and crushed all of my arrows. When that didn't work, I slipped out my backup bow but that was no good to him, barely leaving a scratch on his left shoulder. Then you look at me. Swollen left eye that I could barely see out of. I was damn near blind out of the other. My right shoulder was dislocated easily, unable to snap it back in place. My wrists and knuckles were swollen, mouth filled with the foul thick taste of blood and my outfit was torn to shreds. I was dirty with scratches and bruises on my face, yet somehow through this brutal beating I was still here. Here to take it, accept it and to face the fact that I am going to die here soon tonight.

He grabs me by my collar and laughs at my face once again before laying a hit to my chest. I swear I heard something crack and if I didn't know any better, there are a few broken ribs in there. My heart was racing, sweat pouring down my face, the way my fingers trembled; I could barely think yet alone see straight. For the first time in my life, I felt like giving up.

"You're out of your league, kid. You should've stayed with your little master when you had the chance before taking out on the real deal." He takes off his hockey mask and looks at me straight in the eye. He grabs my head his other hand and slams my face to the ground carelessly. I shout with agony and don't move a muscle. "Tonight...this will be the last face you'll see for the rest of your life. I want to make it special and when I'm done with you, I'll finish off Green Arrow too."

As I remain catching my breath all I could do was murmur my words out. Then I spit the rest of the blood that filled in my mouth to the ground beside me.

"What was that Red? I couldn't hear you. Perhaps it's that collapsed lung you have from taking a serious beating. I know Artemis told you not to take me on by yourself, for once that brat was actually right."

I wipe the left over blood from the corner of my mouth with my wrist and surprisingly I made it back to me feet, though still struggling to keep myself up. I lean against a wall of stacked boxes to assist holding me up. "Is...is that it? Sounds like to me you're just all talk."

His smirk vanishes and he charges for me like a raging rhino. I throw myself to the ground on the side as he misses and mistakenly punches a hole through the wall. With his hand stuck, I manage to trip him off to the ground and lay two hits to his face with my left hand before he was able to catch himself and kick my above and over him. All I could see was darkness as I flew in the air. I crash into a glass window and end up outside in a grassy field with wild life fleeing for their lives. Bits and pieces of the remaining glass were in my back, causing me more pain than I could ever imagine beforehand. The landing helps me snap my right shoulder back into place, but it was too late. My body was pretty much useless. I close my eyes only hoping that this suffering would all end. I don't think my heart and my body could take anymore of this. I know he knows this, yet he continues to do so. I wait...

"Enough!" A familiar but angry voice demands out of nowhere to be seen. "This wasn't part of our mission. We came here to simply collect the data and leave."

I knew it wasn't Sportsmaster, so someone else had to be here and had to be watching. I open both eyes with the bare minimum to view someone standing over me. I look up some more and view a female figure wearing green with thick black hair pushed back with a mask in front of her face and holding weapons in both of her hands. She stands in an attack mode, facing my adversary. As long as it took for me to realize who it was, I was also shock to see her standing here and by my side. I scoot just barely to see what Sportsmaster's next move was, but he just stood there holding his mask.

"Get out of the way kid. I have some unfinished business to take care of."

"It seems like to me that you're done." Cheshire replies.

"I'm not going to say this nicely in any other way." He places his mask back on his face after cracking his knuckles. "Stand down."

"I'm not going anywhere."

She watches him run after her, but she slowly reaches behind her back and from what I could see she presses a detonator. Within seconds the building behind us explodes and the extreme force sends Sportsmaster flying several feet above and over us. She dashes after him, taking a leap in the air and throwing one of her sais after him. He rolls off to the side as the sai misses just an inch away from his head and punches her on the side of her face. She barely moves and dodges his next throw, then elbowing him in the stomach and swirls around to get behind him and uses her other elbow to shove him to the ground as he was bent over. She kicks him so that he lies on his back and points her other sai at his throat. I try to listen as the two exchange words and after a few short seconds, Cheshire stands back and allows him to get back up his feet. They continue to speak to one another and he leaps into the forest to escape. So much for stopping the bad guy, but I didn't have a chance in the matter. She turns to me with the mask still covering her face unlike the last time we met. She rushes towards me and kneels down to partially lift me upwards. This was allowing my head to rest on her hand as her knee supports the lifting.

"Wha...what are you...?"

She plants her index finger on my lips to prevent me from talking. "Ssshhh lover-boy. Everything's going to be alright." I watch her easily tear off the sleeve from her right arm and uses it to wipe the remaining blood that seeps from the corners of my mouth. "You just can't keep yourself from making a mess, huh?" She gently dabs the torn cloth around my chest to soak of some of the left over blood, then tosses it aside and carefully aligns her hands against my cheek. "Poor Arrow, if only I were here earlier to help you."

"Like...like you...would be here to help me. I wouldn't...put it behind the back of my head that you were probably part of this." I reply.

She shakes her head in disagreement. "That's where you're wrong. I was given a tip by a very good family...friend of mine."

"Who?" I ask.

"Doesn't matter. I'm here now aren't I? What else could you ask for?" She smirks at me and easily tears the sleeve off her other arm. I watch her wrap it around my left arm as a bandage. There was a about a half an inch deep cut that was causing more blood that was soaking half of my upper arm. I look at her face and just stare at her complete concentration.

"Why are you doing this?"

"The things a girl does for a guy whom she's longing for." She answers calmly and continues to smile.

"What's that suppo...supposed to mean? Ahhh ouch..."

"Hold still." She tosses the other cloth aside and reaches into her shirt for something. She pulls out another cloth, but this time it was black and had a female scent to it. "I need to you breathe into this."

"What for...?"

"Breathe."

She forces the cloth into my face, purposely aiming for my nose and without trying to fight I automatically breathe into it. I began to get dizzy, woozy and my body began to feel warm for the bitter coldness I felt before. I was growing tired, but before my eyes were shutting on their own I lastly saw that she was still smiling and that's where blurriness was coming into place. I only hope she wasn't trying to end me on the spot but trying to make it look like she was helping me so I wouldn't resist. I could feel my heart beat slowing down and my adrenaline wasn't rushing like it was anymore. With whatever strength I had left, I try grabbing on to whatever object was that was closest to me in despair which happens to be her other hand that was placed lying on my chest. My neck cocks back by itself in relaxation and my eyes shut completely. All I saw was darkness...and then...nothing...

"Sweet dreams Lover-boy."


	2. Fallin

One of the things Oliver had taught me through my younger crime fighting days as his partner was being aware of your surroundings not matter what the situation I was in and that's the first thing I did once my eyes open in realization of being restrained. I was sure that I was in a place where I shouldn't be. Before I thought about moving was gently touching my eyes. With the slight pain I felt just from tenderly touching my bruised eyelids, I knew right then and there by the second that my mask wasn't on. My identity is exposed and that's where my heart began to race like an engine.

"Cheshire." I whisper to myself in hope to see her in this room with me, but she wasn't anywhere in sight.

I turn my head left and right and in spite of being able to get up from this bed, around me I discover myself in a small room that was enclosed with darkness. There was a lamp a few feet away from me that provides very little light for me to see, but it was just enough to know that the room was not much bigger that a prison cell with no windows. I knew the bed I lay in was no bigger than a twin sized with a black sheet that covers my body from my upper torso to toe. I put in some effort to push my back against the wall so I could lean forward, but I was unable to move. There was so much pain throughout my body it was unbearable so I limit myself to trifling movements. With nothing else to do and not much else on my mind, I chose to watch the door that was several feet across from me and wait for the next thing to come through. The last memory my brain can follow up on was Cheshire and I didn't know why. Just her and the rest were only bits and pieces like a puzzle that were scrambling in my thoughts. I barely manage to make out the events for my own sake. For whatever reason, she was helping me recover from my injuries with the very minimal resources she had with her at the spot and then…I blacked out. If I try to remember any harder, a headache would begin to form. The collective events cause my head to become foggy and I couldn't remember much before then about that night. That was another problem. I don't know what time it was either. I couldn't tell you the date for all I know I could've been out for days, maybe even weeks. My location remains unknown and I sure knew that I wasn't wearing my torn up suit I had on earlier. Instead I was wearing a white T-shirt and a pair of gray sweats underneath with white socks. Underneath my shirt I could feel bandages all around my chest. I pull my shirt upwards from the bottom to view some of the bandages were pink from blood. My wounds were healing faster than I would suppose, but this seems too good to be true.

"Something's not right." I mumble.

There was pain from my right shoulder from the dislocation and both arms were also covered with white patch bandages. Even though I was getting treatment from my wounds and with all of the gashes, bruises, and sores that cover my body what hurt the most was something going on inside my chest. I couldn't explain it any better but it felt that each time my heart would beat, there was that consistent pain like someone was hitting a nail with a hammer. It was annoying just like the fact on being stuck in here alone. In desperation, I strengthen myself to lean my back against the wall so I was up straight. I groan in agony and discomfort, but in doing so I eventually succeed in the process. With that done there was nothing else I could do but just stare at the wall across from me and wait.

_But that all ends in a matter of seconds…_

"You're welcome." She greets me while kicking the door behind her. Cheshire holds a tray with a fresh pot of tea with the steam escaping from the lid. Next to it was a decorated tea cup that was high in detail with green vines that wrapped around the borders with blue rose pedals tangled in between the vines. She approaches me slowly and tolerantly without another word. She didn't have her mask on, showing that she was perfectly comfortable with showing her identity in front of me. It's not like she's never done it before and I never knew who she really was anyway. She wore the same usual clothing, but the top was new with the usual sleeves. She pulls a random chair to the side of her and takes a seat next to me. After setting the tray on her lap, she leisurely slips her fingers slowly through my hair as she hums a soft melody to herself.

"…and you have blue eyes. Oh what more can a girl ask for?" She comments as she now pours some tea into the small cup. "Here. Drink some of this."

I look at the cup, then back at her questionably. "Why should I?"

"What's the problem? You don't trust me?"

We exchange disputed looks to each other, then I gradually take it from her and went on taking a hurried sip. The tea was so hot it burnt the tip of my tongue so I shove the cup back into her hands. She takes it and places the cup back on the trey, then winks at me with a smirk.

"I can't move." I state as the only thing on my mind.

Then and there her smirk quickly fades away and she sets the tray with the cup on the ground. "I know. You took quite a beating back at the warehouse."

"No kidding. And I still have a good reason to assume that you and Sportsmaster were behind to what's happened back there. Don't try to take yourself off the list by acting like this."

"Give me a break Arrow…" She pauses, somewhat trying to hide another smile. "I've been a very good girl lately."

"Good enough to let Sportsmaster escape?"

She frowns and rests her back against the chair. "I did what I had to do and I see you attempted to do the same thing, but that didn't work out for you now didn't it?"

"I know you're both working together, so why let me live? Why not leave me to die at the spot."

She chuckles, "I can't just let you die Arrow. Not like that anyway. It would've been too easy. I like a challenge and that's what you are."

"So this is all just a game to you."

"I never said that, but since you're thinking of it that way let's put it into a perspective of cat and mouse." Her hand makes its way to my cheek. "I'm the cat and you're the mouse I'm trying to catch. So far you've made it very difficult for me to catch, but I like it."

And she was at it again. She always has something crafty to say back to me or anyone else in her presence. Her persistence, patience, and the way she would talk to me made her seem more interesting and full of curiosity. She was clever, but she was also tempting. It was the way she smiles, the way she moves around me, and then there was the way she would look at me with her eyes. Whenever we look at one another, it was hard to let go and to look away. She always caught my attention. Those pair of tranquil and untrustworthy eyes when they stare deep into mine, it made me more questionable and strangely more attracted to her. But what was I thinking, she's capable of anything and I would be a damn fool to fall for her setup. At the same time, I found myself wanting to play along with her game and see where this was going. I plan to keep my cool and not blow my cover. I figure if I was going along with her she would reveal some information while being distracted. Valuable information that I could pass on to the team. That's if she wasn't paying attention. There wasn't much more I could do since I was stuck to this bed with her by my side. That's another part that stands out to me. Instead of leaving me in the room alone, she's here staying with me and chatting me up like we've been friends for a long time. I can only question her motive. Her coming to help me recover with her homemade tea was not giving me any reason to think that she was going to hurt me at this point. I second guess myself to think that maybe she was serious. Maybe she actually is searching for something here between us. She is enigmatic in so many ways, but I can't keep my guard down. My mind was only throbbing back and forth for answers. Patience was my only key.

"What's your plan? Who do shadows work for?"

"Tsk tsk…" She shakes her head, "Haven't you already asked me this the first time we crossed paths? I can't tell you or it'll ruin the whole surprise and that wouldn't be any fun."

"Fine. Then is there anything you can tell me that I don't know?" I ask to head for another direction.

"Besides that fact that you're so…irresistible?" She sheepishly grins but as fast as she did, her smile fades and she stands from the chair to walk away from me. She halts at the center of the room and folds her arms across her chest. "I have some bad news handsome. You only have a short amount of time left to live."

I take a moment to gather my emotions. I already knew this was true with the up beating pain inside my chest so I was prepared. I had the feeling inside all along and I figure the tea she was offering me was to avoid the pain, but why ignore what's bound to happen. "Tell me something I don't know."

Surprisingly she makes eye contact with me once again, an uncertain look drawn to her face. This was rather unfamiliar because if I didn't know any better, I would say she seems to be dissatisfied and down by the circumstance.

"You're losing a lot of blood and you're continually bleeding." She continues as her voice cracks. "How do you feel about that?"

"I'm not sure exactly how to feel...to be honest." I watch her shake her head. "There's not much I can do either. All I know is that Sportsmaster's behind this and my team will stop yours and whatever plan you have set up."

"Well in that case, I'll have to leave you sooner than I'd like. Your team is going to find you here any minute now because I left one of your friends a little note not too long ago saying where you are and the condition you're in. In the meantime I'll deal with Sportsmaster."

"There's no point. You both work together."

She takes her seat back and crosses her right leg over the other. "If I was working with him, I would've left you back there to die."

I couldn't help but laugh quietly to myself. "I want to know why you are doing this. This isn't much like your scenery."

She takes my hand and aligns her right with my left so that all opposing fingers match up perfectly. "That's the best thing about having dates with your significant other. You get to know the person better and find things out that you would've never known before."

"How am I your significant other?"

She chuckles to herself. "You ask a lot of questions, don't you?"

"For good reason."

She slicks the side of her black hair back, "Interested?"

"No. You're not really my type."

Her hand leisurely crawls up to my arm. "You're a good liar."

She props inwards to position herself facing me, placing her hand from my shoulder to my neck and then to my cheek while leaning closer towards my face. She closes her eyes and I follow on with mine. I relax my muscles as the tips of our noses first touch, then my lips meet with hers and we both seem to fall into her own well-played game. By this time I knew she was definite. I could feel her hands slide down to my chest and she moves closer into the passionate kiss, making this more intimate than I allege. She slips one of her hands to the back of my head to pull me in closer as my hand makes its way to and place itself on the side of her face. She softly moans, giving me the indication that she was relishing this moment and perhaps wants more. I feel the edge of the bed pushing downwards as she forces half of her body almost on top of mine, but much as I was enjoying this it needs to come to an end. I slowly push her apart from me, but she crossly refuses and gives me one more brush kiss before giving up from my signs.

"Mmmm…" She groans as she remains close to my face. "Such a tease. Too bad. We could've made this so interesting."

"Interesting enough as it is. You shouldn't be consorting with me. If shadows or even Sportsmaster saw y…"

She takes my left hand and interlocks her fingers with mine. "I can take care of them myself."

She was the upmost enigmatic, yet a shadowy personality I've come to known. Her presence was relaxing and exciting in a way but this was wrong and under my standards. Green Arrow would be ashamed of me. If I was able to move I would leave in a heartbeat and yet I was so unfortunate to do so. It was like blood stopped flowing to my lower torso and nothing was functioning down there anymore. But it was enough with that…enough with me. I knew my end was near so all that was left was just me and her.

_So I watch…_

She wasn't looking into me, but instead my chest seems to have caught her attention. As she remains to hold my hand, she simply endlessly taps the center of my chest with her index finger in her own cadence with the rhythm of my heartbeat. Then there was her lenient humming of her own tune once more and she slowly looks to me again with a smile. I was speechless.

She suddenly stops tapping, "They're here." She announces, looking at the door behind her.

"How do you know?" I watch her stand from her seat and kick the tray with the cup underneath the bed.

She turns around and picks up her mask from behind her. "I can hear them calling for you down the hall. They're heading this way."

Without any windows to dash out and with my team down the hall, she was going to be seen and wasn't going to be able to escape without having to put up a fight. So that left me to question, "You're just going to leave?"

"Disappointed? How sweet." She places her mask to cover her forehead only to reveal the rest of her face underneath. She sets her hand on my chest and leans towards me once more and plants a soft kiss on my forehead before departing. "Tell me I'm going to see you again Arrow."

I didn't have a straightforward answer. We both knew what was bound to happen so there was no point on telling an untrue statement or trying to pretend. I only glower at her, "There's no reason to tell a lie."

"That's not something a girl likes to hear..." She slips the mask on completely and takes her time to head for the door. "But it was fun while it lasted."

* * *

I open the wooden door to find a green pointy arrow aiming for my face. It was only a few inches held away from me with the bow right by its side and the archer itself was no other than my younger blonde sister. Oh so proud I was of her to try holding her own. I can tell she was furious, the perfect emotion to catch her off balance if we sparred. She might have not been happy to see me, but I always thought it was nice to have these mini family reunifications.

"I should've suspected you were behind this." She says heatedly.

I place my hands on my hips, "I see you got my tip. I was expecting you to be here much faster."

"What are you doing here?"

"Why ask questions that you already know?"

I allow myself to step aside to let her view Red Arrow lying calmly in his bed. She automatically drops her attention from me to him and rushes to his aid. "Red Arrow! What happened?" She took a few seconds to scan all of his bandages, then gets back to her stance and points her bow and arrow back at me mercilessly. "What did you do!"

I was ready to react with combat but before I could make my move, Arrow intervenes. "Artemis…stop. She didn't do anything."

"What do you mean she didn't do anything?" She snaps.

"You heard him." I reply mockingly.

I watch her lower her aim at low ready to think for a moment as she looks at him confusingly without saying a word. Seconds later she swiftly aims the arrow back for my chest. "If I ever see you again Cheshire, I'll…"

I take few steps backwards into the shadows behind me so I was barely visible. "I wouldn't expect anything less."

"Artemis!" One of her friends shouts to her a few yards down the hall.

She turns around to support Arrow and I knew this was my cue. Just as quickly as I came to help Arrow from Sportmaster's the night before, I disappear into the dark shadows behind me to escape.

_But I wasn't done just yet..._


	3. Father & Daughter

**UKNOWN AREA  
****December 12, 23:01 EST**

I was on the prowl. My frustration and completion from our achievement of the accomplishment of our previous mission were not a good mix for my passion and ongoing emotions. Those are the two emotions I always have control of. I was off the edge, almost to explode like a time bomb ticking until you hear that ring and then suddenly, _boom…_ it detonates and causes severe destruction around everything in the environment. I could wipe out and murder everyone in this entire facility if I wanted to, but not yet and not over something so little like this. If I did and I was caught, they would question me and assume I was talking and treating the enemy like a friendly while throwing my job off to the side as a second priority. I can multi-task and pull both hand in hand. I don't care what they think or how they think about me. It's how I run my life and that way I do things. What matters most is how I'm making myself happy and what makes me happy are the simple things I do that I enjoy in my nature.

_To kill…_

I was sure Arrow was dead by this time. He would finally give in to his injuries that were not caused by me, but conceivably by my father. As much as I tried and to be honest I gave it my best shot to help him. I thought maybe he was worth the tease, but it had been almost an hour and he would finally succumb to his injuries. There was no turning back and that's where it leaves me now. I enter back to my hideout to hunt Sportsmaster just as I told myself I would and I knew he was expecting my arrival anytime now. I kick down the old worthless door that once remained in my way. It simply crumbles to pieces and I see Ra's al Ghul with Black Spider and Sportsmaster standing next to him.

"Good to see you again kiddo. We were wondering what took you so long." My father greets me. I ignore him, walking towards him without signaling any emotion. "What's wrong? Did I make you mad about something?"

"Training…" I mumble.

As I make a fist, I catch Black Spider rushes over to me from my right side with a straight kick. I bend my upper body just barely backwards, allowing him to miss me and for myself to grasp his foot by the ankle. I swing his body to the ground before grabbing his foot with my other hand and twisting his ankle. I hear him shout in pain as we both listen to the bones and tendons crack underneath his skin. I release him and his foot flops to the floor carelessly.

"You…you said this was training." He cries.

"Oops." I reply to him sardonically. I throw my mask off to the side and look at Sportsmaster. "I guess I didn't specify who."

He takes his mask off as a response and tosses it on the ground beside him. We both watch Ra's al Ghul steps aside into the shadow. "So, I made you that mad, huh? I didn't know my little girl has a little bit of sensitivity in her."

"You don't know a thing about me."

I throw a few of my stars to begin with but he blocks them off with the metal plates on his left arm. "We're using weapons now? Good."

I ignore his talking and slip out my sais from underneath my sleeves. There I go straight for his chest. I attempt to throw a few swipes at him, but he continues to use his metal plates to block his upper body. My next goal was to remove those plates from his left arm. I drop to the floor to trip him, but he jumps over my leg and kicks me in the face. I slide backwards to the ground and speedily regain my stance.

"I'm disappointed Jade. That's was a simple move I thought you'd be able to evade. Guess you're not as good as an assassin as I was once told."

I spit some saliva mixed with blood off to the side of me and smile. I dash off to him, jumping over him as he tries to lay a punch on me dead on. While in the air, I grab on the top of his head and use my feet to land on his back as he continues to stand. I use him as leverage and kick off of him, at the same time I throw a few more stars from my hands. He front flips out of the way as the stars strike the ground behind him, almost barely visible to the eye. He slips out a javelin from his backside and tosses it in my direction. I jump off to the side, but it explodes against the wall. The force from the blast pushes me farther than I jump and causes me to get off balance, throwing my back against the wall. I open my eyes and his right fist is only an inch away from my face. With quickness I duck as his punch hits part of the wall above me. I land a few jabs to his stomach, but he grasps hold of my neck with his left hand and slams my head against the wall. He sets his right hand free and uses it to also grab the back of my neck. With both of his hands busy trying to choke me, I knee the bottom of his right armpit and then kick the middle of his torso. With him letting go and bending over in slight discomfort, I swing in an uppercut that sets his feet off the ground.

"_I'm not finished."_

As he was going to sail back, I use my length to grab his collar and pull him back down to my level. I head-butt him and grab the back of his neck to slam his face against the wall. As I hear him groan from frustration, I elbow his back before grabbing the back of his shirt and throwing him a few yards away from me to the other side of the wall across from us. I watch him struggle to get to his feet and I serenely slide my hair back since it was in my way. He was shaking...a signal of fear. I sprint for him as he catches his breath, picking my sais up in the process. I set for a straight jab for him, cutting underneath his right arm but barely missing the main artery. He comes back at me with a left hook to the face and knocking me on the ground. He kicks me in the groin hastily like toy. One of my sais slips out of my hands and I scramble on the floor to get it back, but Sportsmaster grabs me by both of my legs and swings me around in circles before releasing me in mid-air and colliding into another door which led to another room.

I force myself back to my feet. I view him pulling out another javelin set for me whereas I remain having my last sai in my right hand. He runs for me, taking a swing with his weapon. I jump upwards and stealthily land on the border ledge as he stops swinging. I step on his face and jump off to land behind him. I attempt to stab his back, but he swings his right arm around to elbow me off to the side. He throws the javelin at me, but it misses my head and zooms by to end up getting stuck in the wall behind me. I perform a few front flips, then a cartwheel to kick his chest. He staggers back and remains to watch me carefully.

"It's a shame to see you grow so old. Despite your age I thought you would be a lot quicker." I comment.

"I thought you'd be a lot more strategic." He retorts. "I'm surprised you haven't taken down your old man yet. By the way, how's that Arrow guy doing?"

I race towards him for a hit, but he grabs my fist and twists my wrist back. With my body bent backwards because of the sudden turn he lands a massive blow to the center of my stomach, sucking all the air outside out of me. I slowly drop to the floor, shutting my eyes in woe and try to catch my breath in anguish. I continue to lie on my back for as I thought it would hurt too much to move. I release my sai as my hands squeeze onto my chest and I somehow found a way to roll over to my side. I hear laughter as I remain miffed.

"It's a shame your boyfriend had to go the way he did. I was never going to give him my blessings anyway."

With the little strength I gained, I get back to my stance to face him. He smiles knowing I was still weak, panting to get myself together but in my head I was fine.

_I'm better than him._

"I don't want to hurt my baby girl too much." He turns away and exits the hallway. "Training's over."

"It's not over until I say it's over."

I surge for him once more and he turns around to lay another hit to my face. I grab his arm and flip him frontwards so he lands on his back. In doing so I jump and stomp on his chest, pulling him by his collar again and laying a jab to his face with my left fist. His head bangs against the ground and he grabs me by the back of my kimono and heaves me off to the side. Even though I land on my feet, he wasn't down as he starts whirling plenty of jabs at my face. I was able to have him miss, except the last one that hits my shoulder. He kicks my chest and I hit the floor, but avoiding his way as he tries to step on my face again. I push myself to slide against the ground, rolling on my back and using my hands to hurdle myself back to my feet. As he charges for me I simply jump straight in the air and wait patiently as he passes by me. Heading back for the ground from the opposite direction he was facing, I grab the back of his hair and lower his upper body downwards. He screeches as he searches for my wrist but I continue to solely lead him downhill. I notice that my other sai was only a few inches away from me. With speed, I give him a roundhouse kick to his back which thrusts his front body against the wall. I quickly grab the sai and push him back against the wall again, pulling his right arm behind his back with my right hand and the sharp point of my sai set straight dead center for his back in the other. With any movement that he would make that I didn't approve, I had the opportunity to end his life at the spot.

With near defeat, he continues to teasingly chuckle at me emotionlessly. "Do it. Make your daddy proud."

Within seconds I pitch the sai to the side. I leap from the ground to grab hold of Sportsmasters neck with my feet and drop him flat on the ground to his back. With my strength and still holding on to his right arm, I snatch his arm out of its socket until his fist releases itself. He roars in pain as his arm falls helplessly to the ground. I let go his neck with my legs and I proceed to get up from the ground. Then I hear clapping from the other room. While going straight on to fight my father after easily taking down Black Spider, I had forgotten Ra's al Ghul was watching us the entire time.

"Impressive."

I dust my off shoulders and stare at the man as he continues lying on the ground disoriented. "Hmm…this looks familiar. Didn't you dislocate Red Arrow's right shoulder? History seems to repeat itself, doesn't it?"

He opens his eyes to watch me and chortles under his breath. "You're weak…just like your mother."

I pick my sai up from the floor and point it at the center of his neck, then I kneel down so I was close enough to his face. "If you do anything like what you did to Arrow to Artemis, I won't hesitate to kill you. I don't care whether we're on the job or not. Understand?"

"I don't tend to hurt my favorite child…" He looks off to the side to avoid eye contact. "…only my least favorite."

I didn't care. All he was trying to do like he was the entire night was get into my head. It worked for a minute but he wasn't going to play my own game against me. Next time he won't say I didn't warn him. I leave him where he lays on the floor, only heading for the closest exit to go somewhere and clean myself up. After I pick up my last sai in the other room, I stop and turn around to him one last time before leaving. There was one more thing I forgot to say to him.

"Oh and dad, training is over."

_...and incase he didn't know, I won._


End file.
